Their Hopes Were Crushed
There were thousands of dashed hopes and broken hearts in Ethiopia a few weeks ago. Roughly 9,000 hearts, actually.
The source of this disappointment was a decision by the government of Israel to put on hold a plan to bring a new wave of Ethiopian “Falashmura” Jews to live in Israel.
Falashmura is the term some use to describe Ethiopians who are descended from Jews who converted to Christianity centuries ago. Many of these live as poor, persecuted outcasts in Ethiopia and long to find a better life in Israel. Thus they seek to “make Aliyah” or immigrate to Israel.
About 135,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent are already living in Israel. Tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel during Operation Moses in 1984 and Operation Solomon in 1992. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of others among these scattered tribes of Israel remain behind in Ethiopia.
Back in November, the Knesset unanimously approved a plan to bring an additional 9,000 individuals to Israel, causing great rejoicing among the Falashmura. However, the Knesset failed to allocate the nearly $1 billion necessary to execute this relocation program.
The discovery of this oversight a few weeks ago then led to the recent “on hold” announcement that crushed the hopes of so many inside Ethiopia’s scattered Israelite tribes.
As you may know, through the help and support of friends like you, Jewish Voice has been on the ground ministering to the needs of these “exiles of Israel” (Psalm 147:2 TLV) for many years now. In Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and other points of need across the globe, Jewish Voice has delivered desperately needed medical, dental, and eye care to these communities.
For example, just this past January, we brought a medical ministry outreach to a previously unreached community in the Tach Gayint area of Ethiopia. Here we encountered some of the most appalling persecution we have encountered in all our years of ministry in this part of the world.
We have five more of these medical ministry outreaches scheduled for 2016. It is your gifts of support that help make this possible.
When you partner with Jewish Voice, you’re a vital part of delivering medical, humanitarian, and spiritual aid to communities of scattered Israelite tribes and sharing the Good News of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah with Jewish people the world over.
Please consider sharing an urgently needed gift of support for this important work today by clicking on the “Donate Now” button below.
To thank you for your gift of $60 or more today, we’ll send you a genuine shofar made from ram’s horn. In biblical times, the shofar was used in battle, worship, and on holy days. This beautiful shofar is just the right size to display in your home or office, and it’s a token of our appreciation for partnering with us in ministry today. We can’t do this without you, and we are grateful that you have chosen to come alongside us in blessing the Jewish People.
Small Shofar
The shofar is the trumpet of Bible times. Used to announce the beginning of holy days such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, it was also used by ancient Jewish People at the beginning of battle. Israel’s battle, led by Joshua, against the city of Jericho resulted in the walls of Jericho falling down at the thunderous sound of many shofars blowing at once. This small shofar is 8” to 11”. Colors, textures, and finish vary in these natural animal horns but all are beautiful and have been tested to be functional before shipping.
